LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Friday's discussion at Transylvania University involving U.S. House Speaker John Boehner, Rep. Nancy Pelosi and former Rep. Dennis Hastert was truly historic because it brought together half of the nation's living House speakers.

And like most good political discussions, it combined salient political talk, a few jabs and some pretty funny lines.

The panel discussion, titled "The Role of the Speaker of the House: A Tribute to Henry Clay," was part of Henry Clay Week in Lexington, a celebration of the man many consider to be Kentucky's greatest statesman during the 200th anniversary of his election as House speaker.

John Harwood, the CNBC correspondent and Louisville native who moderated the discussion, kicked it off by noting that it had taken the three speakers years to reach that position but Clay was elected speaker his first day in the House.

"Does it make you feel a bit like a loser?" an impertinent Harwood asked.

In the course of talking about the role of the speaker, which Clay changed from a mere referee to the second-most-powerful position in Washington, Pelosi, D-Calif., read a "syllogism" by Clay.

"The speaker is the head of the majority party. The legislative majority should shape government. Ergo, the speaker should coordinate and direct government's course," Pelosi quoted Clay as saying.

Pelosi jabbed Boehner back a little bit later while talking about Hastert, of Illinois, who led the chamber for eight years.

Pelosi recalled an event honoring his service, "I said, 'Congratulations to Speaker Hastert. Speaker Hastert is the longest-serving Republican speaker in history; long may his record stand.' "

Boehner and Pelosi also wrangled over the issue of raising the debt ceiling, the most pressing impasse now going on in Washington.

The Treasury has said that the county will run out of money to pay bills on Aug. 2, unless Congress and President Barack Obama can work out a deal to raise the debt ceiling beyond the current $14.3 trillion limit.

Republicans have said that in order for them to agree to raise the debt ceiling, they want the promise of deep cuts to help balance the budget.

Democrats want to make some cuts, but they also want to raise some taxes or at least eliminate tax breaks for big companies and wealthy individuals.

"We all know that we have to cut. We believe that revenue should be on the table," Pelosi said.

"We have to honor our debt. We have to make a change so that we don't find ourselves in a situation that could be harmful to our economy," she said, before gigging Boehner about the job ahead of him. "It's tough and the speaker has all of my sympathies."

Boehner wouldn't rule out letting the Aug. 2 deadline pass.

"I can't say that for sure," he said. "Remember, it's more important to deal with the problem than to deal with some arbitrary date. Nobody in the world believes we're going to default on our debt, nor should we."

Then he began to sound like Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who has often extolled the virtues of government divided between Republicans and Democrats to get tough legislation passed.

"This is the moment; this is the opportunity," Boehner said. "One party would never deal with this problem, way too much political risk. But we have an opportunity because we have divided government to stand together and solve the problem."

As Harwood pointed out, half the living House speakers were present at the event. Boehner has served in the role since January; Pelosi served from 2007 to 2011; and Hastert served from 1999 to 2007. Former speakers who were not present were Repblican Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., who is running for president; Jim Wright, D-Texas, who was supposed to attend but couldn't travel for health reasons; and Tom Foley, D-Wash.

Joseph Gerth's column appears on Mondays. He can be reached at (502) 582-4702 or at jgerth@courier-journal.com. His mailing address is 525 W. Broadway, P.O. Box 740031, Louisville, KY 40201-7431.